Word.ws English Dictionary

in the cold light of day

/ˌɪn ðə ˈkəʊ̯ld ˌlaɪ̯t əv ˈdeɪ̯//ˌɪn ðə ˈkoʊ̯ld ˌlaɪ̯t əv ˈdeɪ̯/

in the cold light of day prepositional phrase: viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool or after having sobered up.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (figuratively) Viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool or after having sobered up.
    • In the cold light of day, I felt I had overreacted.
    • In my over-wrought state of the night before, it had seemed reasonable enough; but here, in the cold light of day, it seemed preposterous.1912 March, Burton E[gbert] Stevenson, “Preparations”, in The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet: A Detective Story, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, published 1918, →OCLC, page 119
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see in, the, cold, light, of, day; during the day; in daylight.
    • And above the crowd of living figures rise colossal forms of armed warriors, and peaceful poets, and sceptred monarchs; these glowing crimson; those standing calm and pale in the cold light of day.1853, Anna Mary Howitt, “The Casting of the Sieges-Thor, Bavaria”, in An Art-student in Munich. […], volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 178
    • However subtle the social pecking order may have been, the outsider entering the famous town with high expectations saw it in the cold light of day shrink into a philistine backwoods dump.1989, Rüdiger Safranski, “Weimar”, in Ewald Osers, transl., Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1991, →ISBN, book 1, page 72

Examples of in the cold light of day in a sentence

  • In the cold light of day, we're a flame in the wind / Not the fire that we've begun.2018 August 16, Marshmello, Steve Mac, Dan Smith, “Happier”, performed by Marshmello and Bastille:
  • But in the cold light of day, and with the Railways Bill passing through Parliament, it's fair to say that not everyone is happy with what's being offered.2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Will devolution deliver real local control?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 44:
  • Heather drove her mother to the Bloodshot Eyeball so they could survey the damage in the cold light of day.2025 August 26, Jennifer Bernard, chapter 33, in Light of Day, Jennifer Bernard:

Antonyms of in the cold light of day

Origin of in the cold light of day

Probably an allusion to a situation being seen more clearly in daylight, and after some time has passed. The word cold is used in the sense of “dispassionate; not prejudiced or partisan; impartial”.

Questions about in the cold light of day

What does in the cold light of day mean?
In the cold light of day means viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool or after having sobered up.
How do you use in the cold light of day in a sentence?
In the cold light of day, we're a flame in the wind / Not the fire that we've begun.
What part of speech is in the cold light of day?
In the cold light of day is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce in the cold light of day?
In the cold light of day is pronounced /ˌɪn ðə ˈkəʊ̯ld ˌlaɪ̯t əv ˈdeɪ̯/ (UK).

Words near in the cold light of day in the dictionary

  1. in the cards
  2. in the clear
  3. in the closet
  4. in the clouds
  5. in the club
  6. in the cold light of day
  7. in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
  8. in the course of time
  9. in the crosshairs
  10. in the dark
  11. in the distance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in the cold light of day (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-in the cold light of day.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-in the cold light of day.wav.

Cite this entry: “in the cold light of day.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/in_the_cold_light_of_day. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.